Madison Township road getting new storm sewers

Residents who live on or off Red Bird Road in Madison Township will see some noticeable changes to the road beginning next year.

Township Administrator Larry Advey said the project will be completed in three phases starting with the installation of new storm sewer lines along the eastern side of the road in February.

"It's a mismatched, hodgepodge of storm sewers right now of given sizes, lengths and crossovers," he said. "There's maybe some here, but none there."

At FirstEnergy's expense, crews began moving the company's power poles in September from the east side to the west side of the street in anticipation of this project.

Advertisement

Once finished, the stormwater lines will prevent rain water from ponding on the roadway, as well as protecting resident's homes and properties in that area from flooding, Advey said.

"The problem with doing storm sewers in Madison Township especially is the high water tables and the potential of the depth of it and having to shore it up properly for safety reasons ... it becomes very expensive," he said.

The total cost of phase one is estimated at $1,041,000. Of this amount, $190,000 will be paid for by the Ohio Public Works Commission grant and the Lake County Stormwater Management Department will be picking up $500,000 of the tab. Madison Township will be taking out a $150,000 no-interest loan that can be repaid over a 20-year period, while $159,900 will be paid for out-of-pocket.

As far as the remaining $41,100 is concerned, Advey said "we'll have to see how the bids come in." He hopes this phase will be completed by July.

Phase two will begin shortly thereafter. It entails widening and resurfacing Red Bird Road from Kirkwall Street to the lake.

Currently, parts of Red Bird Road vary in width from 21.5 to 23 feet. Once the widening portion of the project is complete, Red Bird Road will have a 4-foot berm to the east to accommodate pedestrian traffic since Advey said there are no sidewalks.

Motorists will have 11-foot lanes in each direction and a 2-foot berm to the west for a grand total of 28 feet in width. The road will then be resurfaced.

Advey said the total cost of this phase is estimated at $665,000. Of this amount, $332,500 will be paid for courtesy of a OPWC grant, while the township will pick up the other half.

Advey added if the funds are available, the final phase of the project will include widening Chapel Road to include a left-turn lane.

"We're not there yet because we're watching money," he said.

During Advey's tenure as Madison Township administrator, he said this project is long overdue.

"I've been here 81/2 years and when I came, that was one of the primary storm trunk sewer projects they wanted to do because they needed drainage in the area," he said. "There are a lot of homes through there and with the rain we get these days, there's no place really for the water to go."